The present invention relates to an electric compressor including a compression mechanism that is driven by an electric motor.
For example, a conventional electric compressor is shown in FIG. 5, a diagram illustrates a front end view of a motor compressor or an electric compressor 100 according to a prior art. A compressor housing 101 forms an outer shell of the motor compressor 100. An electric motor 102 and a compression mechanism 103 are accommodated in the compressor housing 101. The compressor housing 101 includes a substantially cylindrical circumferential wall 101a around a central axis L of the motor compressor 100, and a motor drive circuit 104 is arranged on the circumferential wall 101a. The motor drive circuit 104 includes an inverter and the like for driving the electric motor 102. The motor drive circuit 104 mounted on the circumferential wall 101a in a state where the motor drive circuit 104 is accommodated in a casing 106.
An unwanted feature is that the casing 106 for accommodating the motor drive circuit 104 is independent to the compressor housing 101 in the motor compressor 100. As a result, the number of components of the motor compressor 100 increases so that the assembly of the compressor is complicated.
Additionally, the circumferential wall 101a forms substantially cylindrical in shape, while the casing 106 forms cubic in shape. Since the circumferential wall 101a is different in shape than the casing 106, the casing 106 largely protrudes from the compressor housing 101 in the transverse direction. Accordingly, the motor compressor 100 becomes undesirably large in size. Therefore, there is a need for an electric compressor that reduces the number of components and that efficiently becomes compact.